BATON ROUGE, La. (Louisiana First) — After unanimous approval by the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council, they said this plan will not only reshape the city-parish's health care programs, but save taxpayers $19 million.

"We found changes that we can make that wouldn't impact our employees and wouldn't have a significant impact on our retirees," said Councilwoman of District 12 Jen Racca.

Those changes, they said, were financially responsible and needed. At the special meeting, members gave the green light for a shift in health benefits.

"This is a privatized Medicare plan that's through the Blue Cross Blue Shield Network. So, the network doesn't change what it does for the retirees, so they no longer have to pay for it each month. So, they have no costs to themselves. There will be no

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